Bush whatcks collective bargaining rights
What's at stake in airline industry showdown
By Greg
Butterfield
After President George W. Bush imposed a Presidential
Emergency Board on contract negotiations at Northwest Airlines,
members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association
demonstrated outside the White House March 12. They chanted "No
intervention" and "Bush not fair to labor."
Some 10,000 Northwest mechanics were ready to strike at
midnight March 12 in response to management stonewalling.
They've been fighting for a new contract for over four
years.
The mechanics are demanding a major pay increase,
retroactive to 1996.
Under the 1926 Railway Labor Act--a largely anti-union law
regulating the transportation industry--Bush's pro clam ation
makes it illegal to strike for 60 days. If there's no agreement
by May 12, the workers can strike.
But already congressional leaders, in collusion with Bush,
have threatened to outlaw any strike and impose the emergency
board's recommendations.
AMFA President O.V. Delle-Femine said Bush intervened "just
as negotiations were coming together and significant movement
was being made ... The momentum to settle by [Northwest] was
impeded." (Associated Press, March 12)
"People in labor should be able to go on strike," said Tom
Helisek, a mechanic at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International
Airport, a major Northwest hub. "Before, we were just fighting
the company. Now I guess we're fighting the government."
The struggle unfolding at Northwest is the tip of the
iceberg.
A showdown is in the making between unions and management at
three other big U.S. airlines: American, Delta and United.
Strikes possible at four airlines
Strikes are possible at all four airlines this spring,
encompassing over 130,000 workers.
Flight attendants at United and pilots at Delta recently
voted to authorize walkouts.
Workers at other airlines are also affected. TWA is about to
be gobbled up by American, while US Airways is set to merge
with United. Both are demanding concessions from the
workers.
Meanwhile, Southwest Airlines workers have set up
informational pickets at Houston's Hobby Airport to beef up
their negotiating position.
While there are specific issues at each company, all of the
workers involved--from mechanics, flight attendants and pilots
to ramp workers, baggage handlers and ticket agents--say it's
time for the profit-hogging airlines to start paying them
back.
The airlines used pay and benefit cuts to bail themselves
out of financial trouble in the early 1990s. Airline profits
have boomed since the middle of the decade. But most workers
have gotten nothing in return.
It was American Airlines--based in Bush's home state of
Texas--that originated the industry-wide wage and benefit
grab.
When Bush moved against the Northwest mechanics, he
threatened these workers, too. "I intend to take the necessary
steps to prevent airline strikes from happening this year," he
said on March 9.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune called it "a saber-rattling
message to unions at other airlines."
Storm clouds ahead
Bush's intervention at Northwest and his threat to quash any
strikes is a storm warning for the airline unions. It's also a
signal to the whole labor movement that a militant, united
fight-back is needed.
What does the appointment of a Presidential Emergency Board
mean?
It means the repressive capitalist state--the organized
might of the whole owning class--has intervened to determine
the outcome of collective bargaining between workers and
management in one industry.
Democrat Bill Clinton set a precedent for Bush's move. In
1997, Clinton flexed his presidential power to halt an American
Airlines pilots' strike minutes after it began.
This is a threat to the basic, democratic rights of workers
to bargain collectively and strike.
So why is the owning class lining up against the airline
workers?
An economic downturn is looming, ripe with mass layoffs and
more hardships for working people. The bosses fear a successful
strike wave in the airline industry could ignite a broader
movement for job security, better wages and social justice.
The outcome of the airline workers' struggle--whether a
victory or a defeat--will have a major impact on workers in
every industry.
Industry-wide perspective needed
Along with its important goals of organizing the unorganized
and defending immigrant workers' rights, the AFL-CIO needs to
develop a perspective toward industry-wide collective
bargaining in the transportation sector.
The AFL-CIO must struggle to find ways to include the AFMA
and other independent unions in this effort. Isolation is the
biggest threat the unions face--whether or not they are AFL-CIO
affiliates--especially when they're up against a common front
of the bosses.
The basis for unity is building opposition to labor's common
enemies. These include Bush and the government, including both
Republicans and Democrats; the repressive state apparatus of
police, courts and prisons; and, of course, the giant banks and
corporations.
If airline workers are going to stop the assault on their
wages and union rights, then the relationship of forces must be
made more favorable. Getting bogged down in individual
bargaining at Northwest, Delta, United or American will
undermine the unions' real strength. That's why an
industry-wide labor strategy is needed.
In light of the current all-out attack on labor
rights--including Bush's intervention against the airline
unions, the repeal of ergonomics regulations, and the plan to
expand NAFTA into the Free Trade Area of the
Americas--conditions may soon be ripe for a congress of the
whole labor movement and its allies.
Building a united struggle of organiz ed and unorganized
workers and the affected communities is the key to victory.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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